Aldine, Spring ISDs selected for leadership program...

1of4In this 2017 file photo, Spring ISD Superintendent Rodney Watson and Chief Administrator Lupita Hinojosa greet Westfield High School student Zy Tarian on the first day of classes. The Holdsworth Center, a school leadership development nonprofit, selected Spring ISD as a program participant on Tuesday.Photo: Tony Gaines, Photographer

3of4In this 2018 file photo, Pink Elementary School Principal Tiffany Foster gives an early morning welcome hug to a student. Foster and other Lamar CISD leaders are participating in the first group of administrators trained by The Holdsworth Center, a school leadership development nonprofit.Photo: Annie Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Contributor

4of4In this 2018 file photo, Pink Elementary School Principal Tiffany Foster checks in on an older class during her morning rounds. Foster and other Lamar CISD leaders are participating in the first group of administrators trained by The Holdsworth Center, a school leadership development nonprofit.Photo: Annie Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Contributor

Aldine and Spring ISDs were chosen Tuesday as part of the second group of districts to participate in The Holdsworth Center, a prominent school leadership program supported by an initial $100-million investment from the chairman and CEO of grocery giant H-E-B.

The two Houston-area districts will work with The Holdsworth Center for five years to train their current administrators and develop structures for preparing future leaders for high-ranking jobs. Participating districts receive on-site staff support, management training and several other accommodations totaling about $4 million over the five-year period.

“Through the program, we hope to learn new and innovative ways to build leadership capacity in our district and campus leaders,” Aldine ISD Superintendent LaTonya Goffney said in a statement. “Those skills will be used to attract and retain highly effective leaders at all levels.”

H-E-B chairman and CEO Charles Butt founded The Holdsworth Center in 2017, choosing to focus on school leadership development as a method of improving public education outcomes in Texas. The Holdsworth Center’s administrators and some education advocates believe district and campus leadership play an undervalued role in academic results, with too little investment in cultivating high-level talent. Dozens of districts are expected to complete The Holdsworth Center program over the next several years, with a third group of districts expected to be chosen in 2021.

The Holdsworth Center is finishing its second year working with its initial group of participants, which include Klein ISD and Lamar CISD in Houston area. Aldine and Spring were among six districts chosen Tuesday for The Holdsworth Center’s second round, joining Harlingen CISD (Rio Grande Valley), Judson ISD (San Antonio), Lockhart ISD (San Marcos) and Mesquite ISD (Dallas).

The Holdsworth Center selects districts based on willingness and ability to change, level of commitment to the program and administrative cohesion, among other measures.

Aldine will become the center’s largest participant to date, with an enrollment approaching 68,000 students. Goffney is finishing her first year leading the district, which ranks among the most impoverished in Texas. Aldine scored well-below-average on various academic performance metrics last year, including standardized test scores, high school graduation rates and college enrollment rates.

Spring, which shares a southern border with Aldine, also has struggled academically under fifth-year Superintendent Rodney Watson. The district would have received an academic accountability rating of 70 — equivalent to a “C” letter grade — last year if it had not received a waiver due to Hurricane Harvey. Watson has sought to increase access to challenging courses, expand school choice within the district and improve parent engagement in recent months.

“This partnership with The Holdsworth Center comes at a perfect time for Spring ISD,” Watson said in a statement. “We’ll be learning from the best in terms of how to build a high-performing organization where everyone is inspired to do their best work.”

Jacob Carpenter joined the Houston Chronicle in June 2017 to cover K-12 education. Prior to arriving in Texas, he spent a year as an investigative reporting fellow for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He reported for the Naples (Fla.) Daily News from 2011 to 2016, covering criminal courts and long-term investigative projects. A native of suburban Detroit, he graduated from Michigan State University in 2010.